United States Fourth Circuit

In a pre-enforcement challenge to defendant's Act 69, a package of immigration laws passed in 2011, the district court's order enjoining Sections 4, 5, and 6(B)(2) of the Act is affirmed, where: 1) under the Supremacy Clause, the private plaintiffs have an implied right of action to seek injunctive relief from South Carolina's Act 69 on federal preemption grounds; 2) the Younger abstention is inapplicable where, as here, state proceedings have not begun against the federal plaintiffs and the plaintiffs seek injunctive relief to protect their constitutional rights; 3) on the merits, the district court did not err in finding that the challenged sections of the act were preempted by federal immigration law and regulations; and 4) plaintiffs have made the requisite showing for a preliminary injunction.

Appellate Information

• Decided 07/23/2013
• Published 07/23/2013

Judges

• DAVIS

Court

• United States Fourth Circuit

Counsel